Why will Lynk & CO be able to succeed internationally while other Chinese brands have failed?

I don't see competition in a very complicated way. The formula is very simple. We just produce a good product for our users and let our users experience the value of that product. There’s no magic in car production. Everything goes back to fundamentals.

What fundamentals?

The technology, quality, performance, design, how safe the car is, whether we offer the customers good value for money, and whether customers can experience very good service throughout the process. It is as simple as that. If we can reach or exceed the expectations of our customers, I think we can be successful. Product is the most important success factor in this industry.

Are Chinese automakers such as Lynk & CO finally ready to start taking a significant share of the European market?

We don't have the ambition of influencing the whole European market. We are only running a kind of trial in Europe.

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What about Chinese automakers as a whole? Are they ready to match what the Japanese and Korean automakers have already been able to achieve in Europe?

We are trying our best to perform well, but whether the wind will be in our favor or against us is very difficult to judge now. Based on our own experience in the past decades, it is not easy to win this competition. For Japan and for Korea, we think the whole state was behind the boom of the auto industries in those two countries. But for Geely, we are only a privately owned company. It's not that easy to take over or influence the European market.

What are the advantages and the disadvantages of being a private Chinese company trying to compete in the global market when your domestic competitors are state-owned or part of a joint venture?

Today, the market situation is totally different than it was 20 years ago. We have a more committed Chinese government and a much better market environment and infrastructure that can support the rapid growth of a private company such as Geely. So we have a much better environment for business today than we had 20 years ago.

Is it harder or easier as a privately owner automaker?

It is better. We have a more level playing field with our competitors. We have a much better legal framework in China, which favors the development of private companies such as us. The situation will be better and better for us.

Zhejiang Geely Holding Group includes Volvo, Geely and London Taxi. Do you plan to add more brands?

We are small in size so we would like to grow ourselves through technological advancement, through better r&d and through our market expansion.